Semiconductor sales recover in 2013

Memory chips came to the rescue of the semiconductor business, says IHS

The global semiconductor market regained its footing in 2013 due to strong performance in the memory sector, says IHS.

Following a lacklustre performance that saw a 2.5% decline in 2012, the global semiconductor market regained its footing in 2013 with revenue growing by nearly 5% largely due to the strong performance of the memory sector, IHS has said.

Referencing the Semiconductor Value Chain Service report, the analyst firm said global semiconductor sales in 2013 amounted to $317.9bn, up 4.9% from $302.9bn in 2012.

According to IHS, market growth was driven by the strong expansion of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory markets, which rose by 35.0% and 27.7%, respectively, in 2013.

IHS said memory chips came to the rescue of the semiconductor business in 2013. In particular, the company noted that solid pricing and expanding demand for DRAM and NAND in smartphones and tablets caused revenue for these memory devices to surge. Without these two high-performing product segments, the semiconductor industry would attain zero growth this year, stated the report.

IHS said out of the more than 150 semiconductor suppliers it tracked, no other company grew more than Micron in 2013. Micron's share of the total semiconductor market more than doubled to 4.5% in 2013, up from 2.2% in 2012. Micron ended the year with $14.2bn in semiconductor revenue, more than doubling its $6.8bn total in 2012.